Definitions for tough
tʌftough

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. street fighter, toughnoun

   someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing

2. hood, hoodlum, goon, punk, thug, tough, toughie, strong-armernoun

   an aggressive and violent young criminal

3. bully, tough, hooligan, ruffian, roughneck, rowdy, yob, yobo, yobboadjective

   a cruel and brutal fellow

4. toughadjective

   not given to gentleness or sentimentality

   "a tough character"

5. rugged, toughadjective

   very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution

   "a rugged competitive examination"; "the rugged conditions of frontier life"; "the competition was tough"; "it's a tough life"; "it was a tough job"

6. tough, toughenedadjective

   physically toughened

   "the tough bottoms of his feet"

7. sturdy, toughadjective

   substantially made or constructed

   "sturdy steel shelves"; "sturdy canvas"; "a tough all-weather fabric"; "some plastics are as tough as metal"

8. ruffianly, toughadjective

   violent and lawless

   "the more ruffianly element"; "tough street gangs"

9. bad, toughadjective

   feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')

   "my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over"; "he was feeling tough after a restless night"

10. toughadjective

    resistant to cutting or chewing

11. hard, toughadjective

    unfortunate or hard to bear

    "had hard luck"; "a tough break"

12. baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, toughadjective

    making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

    "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. toughnoun

   A person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.

   They were doing fine until they encountered a bunch of toughs from the opposition.

2. toughverb

   To endure.

3. toughverb

   To toughen.

4. toughadjective

   strong and resilient; sturdy

   The tent, made of tough canvas, held up to many abuses.

5. toughadjective

   difficult to cut or chew

   To soften a tough cut of meat, the recipe suggested simmering it for hours.

6. toughadjective

   rugged or physically hardy

   Only a tough species will survive in the desert.

7. toughadjective

   Stubborn.

   He had a reputation as a tough negotiator.

8. toughadjective

   harsh or severe

9. toughadjective

   rowdy or rough.

   A bunch of the tough boys from the wrong side of the tracks threatened him.

10. toughadjective

    difficult or demanding

    This is a tough crowd.

11. toughadjective

    Undergoing plastic deformation before breaking.

12. Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. TOUGHadjective

   Etymology: toh , Saxon.

   1. Yielding without fracture; not brittle.

   Of bodies some are fragile, and some are tough, and not fragile. Francis Bacon, Nat. Hist.

   2. Stiff; not easily flexible.

   The bow he drew,
   And almost join’d the horns of the tough eugh. Dryden.

   Fate with nature’s law would strive,
   To shew plain-dealing once an age may thrive;
   And when so tough a frame she could not bend,
   Exceeded her commission to befriend. Dryden.

   3. Not easily injured or broken.

   O sides you are too tough!
   Will you yet hold? William Shakespeare.

   A body made of brass the crone demands
   For her lov’d nursling, strung with nerves of wire,
   Tough to the last, and with no toil to tire. Dryden.

   4. Viscous; clammy; ropy.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tough

   having the quality of flexibility without brittleness; yielding to force without breaking; capable of resisting great strain; as, the ligaments of animals are remarkably tough

2. Tough

   not easily broken; able to endure hardship; firm; strong; as, tough sinews

3. Tough

   not easily separated; viscous; clammy; tenacious; as, tough phlegm

4. Tough

   stiff; rigid; not flexible; stubborn; as, a tough bow

5. Tough

   severe; violent; as, a tough storm

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tough

   tuf, adj. not easily broken: firm: stiff, viscous, sticky: stubborn, hard to manage, trying: violent: tenacious: able to endure hardship.—n. a rough, a bully.—v.t. or v.i. Tough′en, to make or become tough.—adj. Tough′ish, rather tough.—adv. Tough′ly.—n. Tough′ness. [A.S. tóh; cog. with Ger. zähe.]

Matched Categories

1. • Combatant
   • Criminal

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3162

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2971

3. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Adjectives Frequency: #328

Anagrams for tough »

1. ought

How to pronounce tough?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say tough in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of tough in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of tough in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of tough in a Sentence

1. Dave Gallo:

   We spent two months in that area and found absolutely nothing. That brought mistrust from the industry, looking at something that is 500 days old is going to be tough.

2. Brian LaVigne:

   My dad was tough as nails, just like the dogs are, so it's nice to know that he's still kind of out here with us.

3. Veronique Gillardeau:

   You can't say activity is like it was before COVID. As long as the restaurants are shut, it's going to be tough for us.

4. Steve Bannon:

   Border Patrol told us it's the No. 1 most important miles to close. The tough terrain always left it off the government list, and that's what we focus on -- private land that is not in the program and take the toughest first.

5. Jim Mattis:

   How do we take Turkey's legitimate security concerns and enhance their security... at the same time, the SDF was the only organization at the time that was able to throw ISIS off the track and defeat them in the field in very, very tough fighting and we will not simply cast that organization aside.

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